The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has suspended its bus conductor after he was caught by a passenger for allegedly generating fake tickets and throwing them away. In a purported video recorded by a woman passenger on the same bus, she can be seen raising questions over the act and also asking him about it.
The alerted passenger also reportedly protested the zero-fare tickets printed to show issuance to women passengers under the Siddaramaiah-led government’s Shakti scheme, which aims to provide free travel to state-domicile women in non-premium services of state-run buses across Karnataka.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), former deputy chief minister and BJP leader CN Ashwath Narayan said, “Is this act being done at the behest of the Minister of Transport @RLR_BTM? Or is it happening on the instructions of Chief Minister @siddaramaiah?!”
ಈ ಕೃತ್ಯ ಸಾರಿಗೆ ಸಚಿವರಾದ @RLR_BTM ಅವರ ಸೂಚನೆ ಮೇರೆಗೆ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆಯೇ? ಅಥವಾ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ @siddaramaiah ಅವರ ಸೂಚನೆ ಮೇರೆಗೆ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆಯೇ?! pic.twitter.com/46jHx9cz9d— Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayan (@drashwathcn) October 16, 2023
In the viral video, the conductor can be seen printing out tickets from a hand device and chucking the printed invoice out of the window of the moving bus to meet target.
As per India Today, the woman can be heard saying in Kannada in the purported video, “Why are you tearing the tickets and throwing them away? Tell us. Why are you tearing it? Are you paying money for this? We are the taxpayers. You tore and threw tickets at the previous stop as well.” Realising of being caught, the conductor can be seen apologising to the woman passenger.
The woman was further quoted as saying, “It is not sorry. People will be chastised for making bus travel free. Saying there were losses incurred. We taxpayers should die in the end. Talk now. It is not about being sorry. If I do this for one, the rest will learn.”
Taking cognisance into the matter, the BMTC issued a statement and stated that the accused bus conductor has been suspended till the probe concludes.
As per reports, conductors of such government-run buses create false tickets to get incentives, presumably after they achieve their targets.
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